The City That Never Sleeps

The City That Never Sleeps

22x28 Original Oil on stretched canvas

Part of City series

New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it - once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.

 

                           -John Steinbeck

Chi-town

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Chi-town

 

22x28 Original Oil on stretched canvas

Part of City series

• Chicago


• Two years living in the windy city and it feels more like home that many places I've been before


• Drove all night to get to it at first. Delirious in the morning and didn't know a soul. I remember driving in on I-90 and seeing the city looming up, the traffic crunching in, space getting tighter. Falling into the midst of chaos, exit and then suddenly swallowed up in the heart of Chicago.


• Learning how to ride the L, red line, green line, brown line...best Indian food under the train tracks, $5 slice of pizza as big as your head from Bacci's


• The peace of running down N.Lake Drive by the lake, with the lights of the Hancock looming behind. You know they plant palm trees in the summer by the lake. HA. Then winter.


• Walking through the snow at night to talk to the homeless. I forgot to wear two pairs of socks that first night. I thought I got frostbite my feet hurt so bad. Walter sat at his usual spot at Ohio near Michigan. He held a sign saying "GOD IS GOOD". We were the ones doing "ministry" but HE preached to us about Jesus and told us he was a farmer planting seeds. So many of them, all with their spots, don't remember their names, all so happy to share a friendly chat while our bodies became numb.


• Michigan Ave, the Magnificent Mile. It is magnificent. Towering buildings, glittering shops. Beauty that amazing man created. Fascinating to think that part of it was originally lake and came into being through one squatter, Streeter, who stuck his boat on a sand bar, made land out of sand and garbage, invited more squatters to his "independent district" and fought off the authorities with guns and boiling water.


• Watching the tops of roofs with peeling paint and graffiti skim by. Riding the pink line out to Little Village, a slice of Latin America. New Life springing up. But more kids killed in shootings. And in Humboldt Park you have people like the Osgoods giving their lives to reach kids from broken homes, holding them back from the relentless pull of the gangs. Telling them they are loved and have futures.


• This city, so full, so rich. Fear, hope, exhilaration, endless stories, peace in chaos, growth. Wonderful.

The Cellist

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The Cellist

4th in the Musician series
24x36 Oil on canvas

He stares at the cellist, and feels himself relax as the music seeps into him. He watches as the cellist's hair smooths itself out, his beard disappears. A dirty tuxedo becomes clean, shoes polished bright as mirrors...The building behind the cellist repairs itself. The scars of bullets and shrapnel are covered by plaster and paint, and windows reassemble, clarify and sparkle as the sun reflects off glass. The cobblestones of the road set themselves straight. Around him people stand up taller, their faces put on weight and color. Clothes gain lost thread, brighten, smooth out their wrinkles. Kenan watches as his city heals itself around him. The cellist continues to play...

                          ~Steven Galloway (The Cellist of Sarajevo)

The Guitarist

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The Guitarist

3rd in The Musicians series
24x36 Oil on canvas

The Musicians: In Progress

The Guitarist...half-way done.

The Pianist

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The Pianist

2nd in The Musicians series
24x36 Oil on canvas

"It broke over me," he said simply,
"I knew it would," said the man.
"Warm and gold," said Old Parson.
"Yes," said the man.

                ~Elizabeth Goudge (The Child From the Sea)

The Musicians: In progress

The Pianist
In progress...getting proportions right. When I do people I have to draw them out first. They are tricky but oh so great! 

The Fiddler

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The Fiddler

24x36 Oil on stretched canvas.
First painting in The Musicians series.

"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music." -Albert Einstein

Though famous for his work in physics Einstein was also a proficient violinist.